Yemen’s Hypersonic Missile, A Kill Shot to Israel Maritime Trade

Mohammad Abdul Salam, the spokesman of Ansarullah, recently in an X post said: "Due to the continued military aggression against Gaza, we emphasize that Yemen has intensified its attacks on Israeli ships in the Indian Ocean and is preventing these ships from passing through the Cape of Good Hope."

"Shipping companies should affiliated with ghr Israeli regime should take seriously intensification of our attacks in the Indian Ocean and know that any ship bound for Israel will be vulnerable to Yemeni missiles," he went on.

This warning by Sana'a comes as the Yemeni armed forces have targeted several ships of the Israeli regime or ships carrying goods for this regime in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the past months in support of the people of Gaza. The Yemeni armed forces have pledged that as long as the Israeli regime does not stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip and the massacring of the people of this region, they will continue to attack the ships of this regime or the ships bound for the occupied territories and the ships of the Western allies of this regime in the Red Sea.

The expansion of Ansarullah's operations from the Indian Ocean to South Africa comes as in recent weeks the Yemenis have unveiled new weapons that have increased fear among the Israelis and their Western allies. Last week, Ansarullah tested a hypersonic missile that can travel at a speed of Mach 8 using solid fuel. Also, last month, Ansarullah announced adding unmanned submarines to Yemen's armed forces, which according to experts can change the equation of the conflict in the Red Sea and is considered a serious threat to American ships.

Military experts suggest that despite lack of information about Yemen's newly-introduced hypersonic missile, due to its ability to perform fast and complex maneuvering, hypersonic missile is capable of penetrating the cover made by anti-missile defenses in the atmosphere such as Israel's David's Sling and US's Patriot. Therefore, if Ansarullah decides to use such weapons against the occupied territories, the Israelis will not be safe anywhere. 

Manufacturing advanced weapons by Ansarullah and expanding the operations to the Indian Ocean showed that the American naval coalition has not only failed to undermine Sana'a, but also it made the Yemeni forces more determined to defend the oppressed people of Palestine. Expansion of the targeting range to the Indian Ocean which is 1,000 kilometers away from Yemeni coast displays capabilities of Yemenis who managed to make such technological breakthroughs under tight Western sanctions. 

Tel Aviv heavy costs 

With its operations in the Red Sea over the past four months, Ansarullah has reduced the navigation of Israeli ships through Bab-el-Mandeb and Red Sea to zero, and according to the director of Eilat port, this port has become a ghost site. In this situation, the landing of Yemeni missiles throughout the occupied territories can even disrupt the anchoring of ships in the ports of Haifa and Tel Aviv. 

Now, in addition to the Red Sea, the Israeli and allied Western ships are not immune to attacks in the Indian Ocean and South Africa. 

After the start of the Ansarullah operations in November, the Israeli ships rerouted from the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Cape of Good Hope in order to avoid Yemeni operations in the Red Sea, which cost the them a lot in terms of time and money. Therefore, with the start of Ansarallah's operations in Cape of Good Hope, Israeli ships will not be able to travel through this international waterway, and this issue will put the Israeli regime in a tighter spot economically. 

Currently, about half of the Israeli sea trade is conducted through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and should the Yemeni operations continue, Israel's economy can be put in a very critical situation, and at a time the Israeli occupation needs funding for its war, this predicament can prove costly to Tel Aviv. Actually, once Red Sea and Cape of Good Hope are disrupted, sea trade will disappear and the alternative is air which is heavily costly in terms of time and money compared to shipping. 

The Israeli officials claim that they will continue the war in Gaza for an indefinite period of time until the destruction of Hamas, but achieving this stated goal is impossible given the security concerns posed from outside the occupied territories, especially from Yemen and Lebanon.

Warning message to Tel Aviv and Washington 

Bringing Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope to the missile range issues a serious warning to the Israeli regime and its Western allies, telling them that they should end the war before it is too late, or they have to face the grave consequences. Israeli media have also admitted this issue. The Times of Israel in a report confirming the successful test of Yemen's hypersonic missile said that Ansarullah forces are seeking to expand their attacks in the holy month of Ramadan in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli newspaper further acknowledged that Ansarullah's naval operations in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea have become an increasing obstacle against maritime trade around the world, and Israel's supporters have rerouted to much longer sea routes out of fear of Ansarallah's missiles.

Having failed to make any gains from its anti-Yemeni bombing campaign, the US reached out to the United Nations Security Council to call Ansarullah's operation a threat to the peace and security of international shipping to increase global pressure against Sana'a. In this regard, the members of the Security Council on Monday night once again issued a statement strongly condemning Ansarullah's attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and demanded an immediate stop.

In January, the Security Council issued a resolution condemning Ansarullah's operations and indirectly authorized US and British attacks on Yemen, but these actions not only did not restore security to the Israeli interests in the Red Sea, but also with the escalation of tensions and new military achievements by Sana'a, the scope of tensions has now expanded to the Indian Ocean and South Africa. 

The international community is aware that the continuation of Israel's crimes in Gaza and the American hawkish policy in the Red Sea is the main cause of tensions in the region. Therefore, instead of condemning Ansarullah's operations, the members of the Security Council need to build pressure on the White House and the child-killing Israel to end the genocide in Gaza, since prolonged war risks higher level of confrontation between Resistance camp and the Israeli-American alliance and this is, indeed, dangerous to the global peace. 

The fact is that Ansarullah is drawing strategic changes to the region and the world in favor of the Palestinians and Yemenis while the US is just watching desperately and has no way but accepting the defeat or forcing the Israelis to end the war and lift blockade on Gaza. 

Sana'a has introduced a new equation in the Red Sea seriously challenging to the American hegemony, putting Washington in a tough dilemma. 

If Washington chooses to go to a full-scale war with Yemen, it should know a fate worse than its wars in Vietnam and Washington is awaiting it because Ansarullah over the past 9 years of Saudi-Emirati war has proven its capability. Actually, the White House leaders know well that involvement in a war against Yemen causes heavy costs and another defeat will further damage the US image globally. On the other hand, the ostensible American pro-peace efforts in Gaza have so far gone nowhere as Tel Aviv hardliners are not listening to Washington demands, something making Biden's job difficult. 

At the end, it should be noted that expansion of Yemeni operations to Indian Ocean, while multiple active fronts against the Israeli regime are stepping up their role in the war equations, will consume Israeli regime, and continuation of this situation will put Netanyahu government face to face with great challenges and ongoing protests in the occupied territories will bring Israeli history's most radical government a step closer to collapse.